Union Workers, Officials Rally for LG Project in Englewood Cliffs

Elected officials and more than 300 union workers rallied Friday in support of LG's plan to build a new corporate headquarters building above the Palisades in Englewood Cliffs, according to the union and published reports.

The workers, from the Bergen County Building and Construction Trades Council, called for the project to move forward and pointed to the hundreds of jobs supporters say it will create in the area. 

LG is seeking to build a 143-foot high office that would be visible over the Palisades from New York. The building has been stalled while a lawsuit filed against the borough by preservationists groups heads to mediation. 

“We can’t afford any more delays, our guys want to get back to work,” Rick Sabato, president of the Bergen County Building and Construction Trades Council, said in a news release distributed by a public relations firm representing LG. 

LG's project has already been approved, but mediation in the pending lawsuit is set to begin May 1. 

“If LG feels the delays are too costly, it could decide to move its headquarters out of the area. And we would see $2 million in local tax revenue, gone. Hundreds of jobs, gone. Our region’s reputation as being business friendly, gone,” said State Senator Paul Sarlo (D-36) in the release. 

New York-based cultural institutions and conservation groups have opposed the project. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Scene Hudson championed efforts against the building's height. 

The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference and the local Federation of Women’s Clubs are also part of the lawsuit, along with some area residents. Cresskill's Woman’s Club also recently mounted a campaign against the project. 

Englewood Cliffs Mayor Joseph Parisi Jr. described LG a "good corporate citizen" for more than two decades and framed the issue as New York groups trying to meddle in local affairs. 

“We don’t tell New York what they can and can’t build, and we can’t let them tell us,” the mayor said in a prepared statement. 

Attorney Michael Lubin, who is representing two Englewood Cliffs residents in the suit against LG, called the rally a "sideshow," NorthJersey.com reported. 

“I understand the union is interested in jobs for their members, and I understand politicians are interested in getting the votes of these union members,” Lubin said in the report. “But this is not a popularity contest. This is going to be decided in the courts on the principles of land use.”

Scenic Hudson representative Hayley Carlock said it was wrong to characterize the debate as one of New York interests vs. New Jersey, the site reported. She said her organization was not against the project overall, but just the building's height. 

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